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(No Model.)

L. G. LAUREAU.

PIT' FURNACE.

No. 411,814. Patented 0013. 1 18891 & W

Inventor 9V Attorney Witnesses N. PETERSv Phala- UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

Louis e. LAUREAU, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ear-re Rama.

srnoitrrca'rroa forming part of haters Patent 1%. 411,814, dated October 1,1889.

a plication filed April 22, 1889.

serial No. "308,136. (No model.)

To all whom/zit may concern:

This invention pertains to that class of pitfurnaces designed for the soaking of newlycast ingots. A newly-cast ingot begins to cool at its outside, and the cooling gradually reaches the center. The centerbeing thelast to cool, the shrinkages are of course at the center. A partially-cooled ingot may contain a total heat corresponding with the total heat required in an ingot fit to be rolled; but the heat may be so low, at the outside of the ingot that it is not fit for rollin g, while the central portions of the ingot are hotter than is necessary. \Vhat is wanted is an equalization of the heat in cooling, so that the total heat in the partially-cooled ingot may be available for the rolling process. If the freshlycast ingot be placed in a pit alongside a partially-cooled ingot, the freshly-cast ingot will part with heat, and at the same time the center of the partly-cooled ingot will part with heat, and both these items of heat will serve to elevate the temperature of the outer portions of the partly-cooled ingot, whereby there is established a tendency toward equalization in the partly cooled ingot. Otherwise stated, the ingots are cooled in a heated atmosphere, whereby the cooling is rendered substantially uniform throughout the body of the ingot, the heated atmosphere being maintained by the heat dispensed by the ingots in cooling. Sufficient heat should be added to compensate for the heat which would be dispensed by the ingots during the equalizing process of coolmg.

My improvements relate to the construct-ion of pit-furnaces in which ingots are to be placed for the purpose of equalizing their heat during the process of solidification or further cooling.

5 ance with my invention; and Fig. 2, apla'n of the same, half in horizontal section.

In the drawings, A indicates the furnace of general rectangular plan and having a depth at least equal to the length of ingots to be treated; 13, the bed of the furnace sloped from the ends toward the center; 0, the roof of the furnace, provided with openings and covers therefor, by which the ingots may be placed in the furnace by being let down endwise therein; 1), the regenerator structures at each end of the furnace; E, the gas portion of the regenerators to serve in the usual manner to heat the incoming gases; F, the air portion of the regenerators to serve in a similar manner in heating the incoming air of combustion; G,con1bustion-nozzles reaching from the regenerator structures to the ends of the furnace; H, a slagpit ortunnel crossing under neath the center of the furnaceird, a wall dis? posed longitudinally in the furnace and errtending vertically from the floor to the roof cover thereof 5 K, arches springing from the side Walls of the furnace and from the cen= tral wall, and serving to support the roof of the furnace; L, a port through the Wall J at the center of its base; M, a port in the floor of the furnace, communicating with the slag tunnel; N, the furnace-chamber upon one side of the wall J, and O the furnace-chamber upon the other side of that wall.

The regenerators are to be arranged to work as usual, so that gas passing through one of the gas-regenerators'and air passing through its fellow air-regenerator become heated and join and go into combustion at the appropriate nozzle leading to the furnace, the hot products of combustion after passing through the furnace passing through and heating the gas-regenerator and air regenerator at the other end of the furnace, and escaping thence to the chimney, the action of the regenerators being reversed when the one. pair has become cooled and the other pair properly heated. The combustion of the gases within the furnace yields heat to the ingots therein and to the furnace-walls, which radiate to the atmosphere a portion of the heat received and to the division-wall J which Wall does not radiate its heat to the atmosphere, but serves as a regenerator and equalizer of heat for the ingots. The division-wall J also serves to support the roofing of the furnace, and permits of the furnace being built very much wider than would otherwise be possible, thus rendering possible an increase in the bed-area and capacity of the furnace. The wall also serves in supporting the ingots. The ingots are set upright in the furnacein numbers, and in case one ingot tumbles all of its fellows are liable to be knocked down, causing danger, annoyance, delay, and Waste. The wall J serves in supporting the ingots sidewise, and serves also as a guide to the attendant in reaching down after his ingots with his tongs and in placing the ingots. The slag works down the bed of the furnace toward the center and finds its Way to the slag-tunnel through port M, the two chambers being in communication at the floor-level through port L.

The roof of the furnace proper, it will be noticed, is entirely open, except at the arches K. The edges of the covers join over these arches, and the removal of a cover opens a port leading into the furnace, and bounded at the ends by the division-wall and a side wall of the furnace and at the sides by the sides of its contiguous arch-Walls.

I claim as my invention In a pit-furnace, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a furnace substantially rectangular in plan, a regenerator structure at each end of the furnace, combustion-nozzles leading from the regenerator structures to the furnace, a longitudinal Wall disposed centrally in the furnace and extending from the floor to the roof thereof, and a series of arch-walls arranged in the chambers at each side of said longitudinal wall at right angles to said wall, and springing therefrom and from the side walls of the furnace and eX- tending to the roof of the furnace.

LOUIS G. LAUREAU.

Witnesses:

ALLEN R. BoYD, EDWIN N. MAYER. 

